2010

The year 2010 was an important, double anniversary year, notable for a number of major initiatives celebrating the life and music of Vitezslava Kapralova. The most significant was the revival of Kapralova's Piano Concerto in D-Minor, performed by Tomas Visek and the Prague Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martin Turnovsky, and presented in association with the Kapralova Society on May 5 in Obecni dum in Prague. This was the first reintroduction of the work since its last performance in 1948. Another performance of the concerto took place in Zlin in November, this time with Alice Rajnohova as soloist and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic conducted by Tomas Hanus. Other important Kapralova projects of the year 2010 included the publication of Kapralova's Three Piano Pieces, op. 9 and Grotesque Passacaglia, an initiative undertaken by the Kapralova Society in partnership with Amos Editio in Prague. The publication of the scores coincided with the release of the passacaglia and two of the three piecs of opus 9 by Stylton Records, an independent Czech label based in Ostrava. The recording also featured Kapralova's Sonata appassionata, April Preludes, and the Variations sur le Carillon, performed by Brno artist Renata Bialasova. The CD release was also assisted by the Society. Another major event of the year was the publication of Kapralova's only string quartet, an initiative of the Czech Radio Publishing House. The scores are available from their publishers, and college libraries can also order them from Harrassowitz.

The most often performed of Kapralova's oeuvre in 2010 were her art songs and string quartet. Kapralova's music was also programmed by three music festivals last year: the Vinterfestspill 2010 Festival in Norway, the 19th International Festival of the Arts in Petersburg, Russia, and the 12th Kunst- und Kulturfestival Berlin, Germany. The composer's music was also introduced at three conferences: a conference of the New England Chapter of the American Musicological Society, hosted by the University of New Hampshire (a lecture by Diane Page), the Czech and Slovak Music and Related Arts conference, hosted by Grand Valley State University (performances by Timothy Cheek and Erik Entwistle), and the Arts in Society Conference, hosted by the University of Sydney College of the Arts (a performance by Timothy Cheek).

Kapralova's music was also featured in two radio series: the first, "Zenske v svetu glasbe" (Women in the world of music), was written by Polona Kovacic for the Slovenian national broadcaster Radio Slovenija 3 (Ars); the second, "Woman Who Write, Women Who Play," was written by Tom Quick for CKWR Waterloo, Canada. Other important radio programs featuring the composer's music included the repeat broadcast on Czech Radio 3 (Vltava) of the 105-minute documentary "Vitezslava Kapralova: Symfonieta zivota" (Vitezslava Kapralova: Sinfonietta of a Life), originally produced by the Brno Studio in 2005. Vltava also broadcast a live recording of Kapralova's Piano Concerto from Obecni dum in Prague. Czech Radio 7 produced two short programs on the composer in 2010, one in English and one in French. In total, the composer's music was featured in record-breaking twenty-one radio and two television broadcasts, and the participating radio and television stations included three national broadcasters: Radio Slovenija, Czech Radio, and Czech Television.

Last year, Kapralova's music was also reviewed in several music magazines and online platforms. Two of the reviews concerned Tomas Visek's and Prague Symphony's performance of Piano Concerto in D-Minor, op. 7, and appeared in Opera plus (a review by Pavel Simacek) and on the orchestra's website www.fok.cz (a review by Veroslav Nemec). The Dvorak Society for Czech and Slovak Music Newsletter printed two reviews: one concerning British premiere of Kapralova's Partita in 2009 (a review by Marian Werner), another concerning Skampa Quartet's performance of Kapralova's string quartet in the UK (a review by Graham Melville-Mason). The Stylton Records CD recording of Kapralova's piano music, performed by Renata Bialasova, was favourably reviewed in Hudebni rozhledy (a review by Vera Lejskova), while the online platform necessarymusic.blogspot.com published a review of “Silenced Voices,” the 1992 CD release of Northeastern Records featuring Kapralova's April Preludes (a review by Bryan Ness).

In addition, several biographical features and articles on Kapralova's life and music were published in print and online last year. The most significant was the analytical essay by Marta Blalock, “Kapralova's String Quartet, op. 8,” published in the spring issue of the Kapralova Society Journal. Blalock's article not only thoroughly analyzes the work from the performing artist perspective but also offers a critical analysis of the two available CD recordings of the work and the score published by the Czech Radio. Other articles dedicated or related to Kapralova published in 2010 included “The Life and Music of Vitezslava Kapralova,” by Karla Hartl, printed in VivaVoce, a periodical of Archiv Frau und Musik, and “Vitezslava Kapralova – skladatelka prvni republiky” (Vitezslava Kapralova – a composer of the First Republic), also by Hartl, printed in Fokus, a periodical of the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Opus Musicum published an article based on the thesis by Eva Tuckova, "Vitezslava Kapralova a jeji zhudebneni poezie Vitezslava Nezvala" (Vitezslava Kapralova and her setting to music of words by Vitezslav Nezval). Furthermore, Ivana Rentsch contributed an entry on Kapralova in the Lexikon Musik und Gender, published by Baerenreiter Verlag, and Kapralova was also mentioned in the article of Volker Tarnow, “Der Schlussel der Träume – als Schlussel zum Werk. Das Geheimnis um Bohuslav Martinus Oper Juliette,” printed in the Berliner Philharmoniker Magazin. Among online features, the most important was the feature by Claudio Canal, “Vitulka, una ragazza sul podio,” written for his blog claudiocanal.blogspot.com. Kapralova was also a subject of two theses last year: the first, by Eva Tuckova, entitled "Vitezslava Kapralova a jeji zhudebneni poezie Vitezslava Nezvala" (Vitezslava Kapralova and her setting to music of words by Vitezslav Nezval) was submitted in partial fullfilment of the author's Bachelor's degree at the Masaryk University in Brno; the second, by Anna Marie Hradecka, entitled "Vitezslava Kapralova: Dubnova preludia, op. 13" (Vitezslava Kapralova: April Preludes, op. 13), was written for the Jan Deyl Conservatory in Prague.

Kapralova's life and work were also celebrated by two exhibits last year: the first was a travelling exhibition on Martinu and his two Czech students, Kapralova and Jan Novak, presented by the Moravian Museum Department of Music History from April 9 to May 12 at the Prague Academy of Music (curator Veronika Vejvodova); the second was a small commemorative exhibit, presented at the occasion of the composer's two anniversaries in 2010 by the Czech Museum of Music in Prague (curator Katerina Mayrova).

Women in Music

In 2010, the Society published the eight volume of its online journal of women in music, The Kapralova Society Journal. The spring issue printed an important recent contribution to Kapralova research, Dr. Marta Blalock's analytical text "Kapralova's String Quartet, op. 8," based on her doctoral dissertation. The fall issue featured an article by Dr. Eugene Gates – "Mrs. H.H.A. Beach: American Symphonist."

The Society's women in music online resources continue to attract visitors to our website and receive positive feedback from visitors, online discussion groups and blogs, and public and college libraries around the globe.
One of the databases published on our website, Women in Czech Music (compiler Karla Hartl), was last year also published by Kassel University Press, in a women in music anthology edited by Christel Nies.